FamilySearch GEDCOM, or simply GEDCOM ( , acronym of Genealogical Data Communication), is an open file format and the de facto standard specification for storing genealogical data. It was developed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the operators of FamilySearch, to aid in the research and sharing of genealogical information.Subject: rep: T Jenkins – open letter to GEDCOM-L – "The goal was to try and provide a standard to allow developers to provide a vehicle for their users to share genealogical conclusions and supporting evidence with others." From: "Jed R. Allen" Brigham Young University – Date: 29 Sep 1995 17:40:04 -0600 – GEDCOM-L Archives – September 1995, week 5 (#7) A common usage is as a standard format for the backup and transfer of family tree data between different genealogy software and websites, most of which support importing from and exporting to GEDCOM format.
GEDCOM is defined as a plain text file, using UTF-8 encoding as of version 7.0. This file contains genealogical information about individuals such as names, events, and relationships; metadata links these records together.
GEDCOM 7.0, released in 2021, is the most recent version of the GEDCOM specification . However, its predecessor, GEDCOM 5.5.1, remains the industry's format standard for the exchange of genealogical data. First released as a draft standard in 1999, GEDCOM 5.5.1 received only minor updates in the subsequent 20 years leading up to the release of 5.5.1 final in 2019. To address its shortcomings, some genealogy programs introduced proprietary extensions to GEDCOM which are not always recognized by other programs, such as GEDCOM 5.5 EL (Extended Locations).GEDCOM 5.5 EL (Extended Locations) specificationAbility to save information against places – "Support for parts of the GEDCOM 5.5EL proposal" – FHUG Wish List0000688: Support for Gedcom 5.5EL – Gramps Bugtracker Efforts have been made to have 7.0 more widely adopted since its release. FamilySearch intends to be GEDCOM 7.0 compatible in the third quarter 2022 and Ancestry.com is planning for 7.0 compatibility, but has not yet specified an implementation date.
Data model GEDCOM uses a lineage-linked data model based on the conceptual model of the nuclear family. The family (FAM) record type is therefore the only source of links between the individuals (INDI) in the file, assigning parents (as HUSB and WIFE) and children (as CHIL) by referring to individuals' unique ID numbers. These historical origins are described in the 7.0 specification document: "The FAM record was originally structured to represent families where a male HUSB (husband or father) and female WIFE (wife or mother) produce CHIL (children)."
Although the links in a GEDCOM family record still use the original naming indicating a husband and a wife, the specification now states that "sex, gender, titles, and roles of partners should not be inferred based on the partner that the HUSB or WIFE structure points to" and that these individuals within a family structure are collectively referred to as 'partners', 'parents' or 'spouses'. A FAM record can also be used for "cohabitation, fostering, adoption, and so on, regardless of the gender of the partners."
File structure A GEDCOM file consists of a header section, records, and a trailer section. Within these sections, records represent people (INDI record), families (FAM records), sources of information (SOUR records), and other miscellaneous records, including notes. Every line of a GEDCOM file begins with a level number where all top-level records (HEAD, TRLR, SUBN, and each INDI, FAM, OBJE, NOTE, REPO, SOUR, and SUBM) begin with a line with level 0, while other level numbers are positive integers.
Although it is possible to write a GEDCOM file by hand, the format was designed to be used with software and thus is not especially human-friendly. A GEDCOM validator that can be used to validate the structure of a GEDCOM file is included as part of PhpGedView project, though it is not meant to be a standalone validator. For standalone validation "The Windows GEDCOM Validator" can be used. or the older unmaintained GedcheckGedcheck – "uses a grammar file for the specific version of GEDCOM to be checked against." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the LDS Church.
During 2001, The GEDCOM TestBook Project evaluated how well four popular genealogy programs conformed to the GEDCOM 5.5 standard using the Gedcheck program. Findings showed that a number of problems existed and that "The most commonly found fault leading to data loss was the failure to read the NOTE tag at all the possible levels at which it may appear."[GEDCOM and the GenTech Testbook Project] Genealogical Computing 7/1/2001 – Archive Summer 2001 Vol. 21.1 – Ancestry.com In 2005, the Genealogical Software Report Card was evaluated (by Bill Mumford who participated in the original GEDCOM Testbook Project) 2000 S W Mumford Last updated March 2005 and included testing the GEDCOM 5.5 standard using the Gedcheck program.Reviews from the NGS Newsmagazine and its Predecessors. – Test Result are in the PDF's
To assist with adoption of GEDCOM 7.0, validation tools now exist for that standard as well.
Example The following is a sample GEDCOM file. sample.ged 0 HEAD 1 SOUR PAF 2 NAME Personal Ancestral File 2 VERS 5.0 1 DATE 30 NOV 2000 1 GEDC 2 VERS 5.5 2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED 1 CHAR ANSEL 1 SUBM @U1@ 0 @I1@ INDI 1 NAME John /Smith/ 1 SEX M 1 FAMS @F1@ 0 @I2@ INDI 1 NAME Elizabeth /Stansfield/ 1 SEX F 1 FAMS @F1@ 0 @I3@ INDI 1 NAME James /Smith/ 1 SEX M 1 FAMC @F1@ 0 @F1@ FAM 1 HUSB @I1@ 1 WIFE @I2@ 1 MARR 1 CHIL @I3@ 0 @U1@ SUBM 1 NAME Submitter 0 TRLR
The header (HEAD) includes the source program and version (Personal Ancestral File, 5.0), the GEDCOM version (5.5), the character encoding (ANSEL), and a link to information about the submitter of the file.
The individual records (INDI) define John Smith (ID I1), Elizabeth Stansfield (ID I2), and James Smith (ID I3).
The family record (FAM) links the husband (HUSB), wife (WIFE), and child (CHIL) by their ID numbers.
Versions The current version of the specification in wide use is GEDCOM 5.5.1 final, which was released on 15 November 2019. Its predecessor, GEDCOM 5.5.1 draft was issued in 1999, introducing nine new attribute, tags and adding UTF-8 as an approved character encoding. The draft was not formally approved, but its provisions were adopted in some part by a number of genealogy programsGED-GEN is based on GEDCOM version 5.5.1 (draft) , dated 2 October 1999. The following record types are parsed: header, individual, family, notes, source, and repository. However not all elements within these records are processed. – Specifications – GED-GEN Introduction0000688: Support for Gedcom 5.5EL (0008068) romjerome (developer) 2009-01-25 06:13 – "Note : GRAMPS 3.0.x supports a part of GEDCOM 5.5.1 on export, which is not supported by most programs" – Gramps Bugtracker"MyBlood supports the GEDCOM 5.5 and 5.5.1 file format." – MyBlood Support – Forum, FAQ, Know Problems including FamilySearch.org.
Lineage-linked GEDCOM is the deliberate de facto common denominator. Despite version 5.5 of the GEDCOM standard first being published in 1996, many genealogical software suppliers have never fully supported the feature of multilingual Unicode text (instead of the ANSEL character set) introduced with that version of the specification. Uniform use of Unicode would allow for the usage of international character sets. An example is the storage of East Asian names in their original Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) characters, without which they could be ambiguous and of little use for genealogical or historical research.Personal Ancestral File 5.2 and PAF Companion 5.4 – Software Version Changes Release 5.0.1.4, 22 December 2000 – "10.GEDCOM improvements: Table:Destination:PAF 5 GEDCOM Version:5.5 Character Set:UTF-8 PAF 5.2 is an example of software that uses UTF-8 as its internal character set, and can output a UTF-8 GEDCOM.Personal Ancestral File 5.1 – "Also noted in a second test was the use of four tags from a later draft version of the Gedcom specification, FONE (phonetic name), ROMN (romanized name), EMAIL (e-mail), and _UID" Jan/Feb 2002 NGS Newsmagazine
GEDCOM 7.0 requires UTF-8 encoding throughout, and resolves other long-standing issues with GEDCOM 5.5.1. Multimedia support in the form of an associated .zip file, called a GEDZip, is another inclusion. Efforts are underway to see 7.0 embraced as the new exchange standard. GEDCOM 7.0 allows explicitly identifying what standards other than GEDCOM may apply to a particular file. GEDCOM has always been extensible, but prior to 7.0 there was no standard way to identify such extensions. Also, GEDCOM 7.0 allows explicitly marking an event as nonexistent. This allows, for example, documenting that a particular individual never married. GEDCOM 7.0 was the first version to use semantic versioning, and is the most recent minor version of the specification.
, the next planned minor release is v7.1, which is under development.
Release history